State v. Wallis

871 So. 2d 552, 2004 WL 626150
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 30, 2004
Docket03-KA-1415
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 871 So. 2d 552 (State v. Wallis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Wallis, 871 So. 2d 552, 2004 WL 626150 (La. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

871 So.2d 552 (2004)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Joan M. WALLIS.

No. 03-KA-1415.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

March 30, 2004.

Margaret S. Sollars, Louisiana Appellate Project, Thibodaux, LA, for Appellant.

Paul D. Connick, Jr., District Attorney, 24th Judicial District, Parish of Jefferson, State of Louisiana, Terry M. Boudreaux, Appellate Counsel, Thomas J. Butler, Counsel of Record on Appeal, Donald A. Rowan, Jr., Trial Counsel, Assistant District Attorneys, Gretna, LA, for Appellee.

Panel composed of Judges JAMES L. CANNELLA, THOMAS F. DALEY and CLARENCE E. McMANUS.

JAMES L. CANNELLA, Judge.

The Defendant, Joan Wallis, appeals from her conviction of theft of goods valued between $100 and $500 and her original *553 sentence to two years imprisonment at hard labor. For the reasons which follow we affirm her conviction. All issues relative to the appeal of her original sentence are moot.

On March 13, 2003, the Jefferson Parish District Attorney filed a bill of information charging the Defendant with theft of goods valued between $100 and $500, a violation of La. R.S. 14:67.10. The Defendant was arraigned on March 14, 2003 and pled not guilty.

The Defendant filed a motion to appoint a sanity commission on April 7, 2003. On May 21, 2003, defense counsel stipulated that the Defendant was competent to stand trial after speaking to the doctors and reviewing their report. Based on the stipulation, the trial court found the Defendant competent. Defense counsel subsequently asked the trial judge if she could do some further testing on the Defendant, which the trial court allowed.[1]

On July 22, 2003, the Defendant moved to change her plea to not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. The Defendant argued that the June 26, 2003 evaluation which she obtained from the State of Louisiana, Department of Health and Hospitals, Office for Citizens with Developmental Disabilities, showed that the Defendant had a low intelligence quotient (IQ) and mental problems. She further argued that the competency issue was entirely different from the issue of whether she could plead not guilty by reason of insanity. The trial judge found that the Defendant did not show good cause for the change of plea and dismissed her motion, but he allowed the Defendant to enter the evaluation into the record.

On that same date, the Defendant was tried before a six person jury and found guilty as charged. On August 22, 2003, the Defendant's motion for new trial and motion for reconsideration of sentence were denied, and her motion for appeal was granted. On that same date, the trial court sentenced the Defendant to imprisonment at hard labor for two years.[2] On November 14, 2003, the State filed a habitual offender bill of information, alleging the Defendant to be a fourth felony offender, which the Defendant denied.[3]

FACTS

Thomas Townsend (Townsend), the investigator for Mervyn's at Oakwood Shopping Center in Gretna, testified that, on *554 February 17, 2003 at 4:17 p.m., he observed on a video camera the Defendant and a man come into the store through the mall entrance. The man stayed with the Defendant for approximately five minutes and then walked into the mall.

The Defendant subsequently went to the Women's Accessories Department, selected a gel pack and put it underneath her jacket. She went upstairs to the Kids Department, pulled out an Old Navy bag, and put socks inside the bag. She then made her way to the Lingerie Department, took a bra out of a box, concealed it and put the empty box back on the shelf. She next took merchandise off of a hanger and placed it into her bag. The Defendant walked toward the pay phones near the Guest Services Desk where she stayed for approximately four minutes, and she then went to the bathroom. She subsequently exited Mervyn's through the mall entrance.

Townsend testified that he and another investigator stopped the Defendant in the mall at 4:47 p.m., approximately one-half hour after she had entered Mervyn's. They found on her person an Old Navy bag filled with Mervyn's merchandise for which she did not have a receipt. He identified State's Exhibit 1 as the merchandise that the Defendant concealed in her bag and he testified that the merchandise was valued at $233.40. He identified State's Exhibit 2 as the videotape of the Defendant taking merchandise, which corroborated his testimony, and it was played for the jury. Townsend further testified that at the time of the incident there were several cash registers in the store where the Defendant could have paid for the merchandise.

On cross-examination, Townsend noted that none of the items in the Defendant's bag fit the Defendant, that the store used the regular price, not the sales price, to calculate the value of the merchandise taken, that they did not include tax to calculate the value, and that some of the items were on sale for eighty percent off. He testified that the Defendant told him that she stole the merchandise to sell it, because she needed a place to live.

The Defendant testified that she was 43 years old, did not know what day it was, nor did she know the year or the President's name. She testified that she knew what it meant to tell the truth and that she read at a third grade level. The Defendant admitted that she had been convicted of theft 13 times over the past 13 years. She also admitted that she had been convicted of a misdemeanor of contributing to the delinquency of a minor on April 21, 1992.

The Defendant testified that on February 17, 2003, she was living with her sister in the Fischer Housing Project, along with her six nieces and her sister's husband or boyfriend.[4] The Defendant explained that her sister would lock her in and out of the apartment. She testified that she could not get anything to eat at the apartment, noting that her sister locked the freezer and the refrigerator and took the burners off the stove. The Defendant stated that, when she was locked out of the apartment, she would sleep on the stairway.

She testified that her sister forced her to pay money to live there, but that she did not have any money. In order to get money to pay rent, the Defendant admitted that she went to the store and stole what her sister needed. The Defendant testified that she thought she had to get *555 those items for her sister in order to have a place to live. She explained that her sister's boyfriend went with her to Mervyn's on February 17, 2003, but that he did not tell her to steal anything.

The Defendant testified that she heard voices in her head, and that they told her to do things, but that she did not always listen to them. She explained that she put paper in her ears to block out the voices. She thought that, if she did not get money for rent, her sister was going to put her out of the apartment. The Defendant said that the thought of being put out scared her and that she did not want to sleep under the tree anymore.

On cross-examination, the Defendant admitted that every time she stole previously, she knew it was wrong to steal, but she did it anyway. She also admitted that when she was convicted previously of theft, her sister did not tell her to steal. The Defendant testified that she did have jobs in the past and had earned money to pay for goods but was fired for falling asleep. After hearing the evidence, the jury found the Defendant guilty as charged. The Defendant assigns one error on appeal.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER ONE

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Related

State v. Mosley
13 So. 3d 705 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2009)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
871 So. 2d 552, 2004 WL 626150, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-wallis-lactapp-2004.